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Tesla has confirmed to Bloomberg that its longtime battery technology director, Kurt Kelty, has left the company. more…

Kelty was one of Tesla’s top battery scientists. In the 1990s, he was the founder and director of Panasonic U.S. battery R&D lab, which was an extension of the Japanese battery R&D lab. He worked for Panasonic’s battery division until 2006, when he joined Tesla to lead its battery technology effort.

He has been the lead negotiator of all of Tesla’s multi-billion dollar battery cell supply agreements with Panasonic. The latest supply contract for the 18650 li-ion cells in Model S and Model X vehicles was projected to last until the end of 2017.

More recently, he was ‘Senior Director of Cell Supply Chain & Business Development’. He was in charge of Gigafactory material sourcing and cell production at Tesla’s factory in partnership with suppliers under their roof in Sparks, Nevada, including his former employer, Panasonic.